I’ll post both videos of both of the speeches below (available on MSNBC), as well as links to the transcripts if you’re interested. Health care highlights include Michelle Obama stating that Senator Barack Obama has fought and will fight to ensure that veterans receive mental health care in addition to medical care. If you read one of my first posts about PTSD among vets, you’ll know how glad I was to hear that! Senator Clinton reiterated her commitment to quality, affordable, universal health care and stressed that it’s Senator Obama’s commitment to the same things that in part garners her endorsement.

As I mentioned, there were many other speeches given that no doubt discussed health care, but these are two of the headliner speeches given. Feel free to watch or read their speeches and post your thoughts!

Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention

speech text

Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention

speech text

Sources:
The Conventions - MSNBC
Democratic National Convention Official Web site

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Public Citizen’s Health Research Group has put together a glossary of terms often used in the national political discussions of health care, insurance, policy, etc. I’ve only read through a view of the definitions, but I’m wondering if you find this helpful and straightforward.

Source:
“Talking the Talk: Decoding Political Jargon in an Election Year” - Public Citizen’s Health Research Group

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Are you struggling with debt or dealing with a pile up of bills because you are uninsured? Or, are you insured, but for some reason have found that your insurance doesn’t cover your medical expenses

I wonder what people who are struggling with medical bill debt think about reforming the U.S. health care system.  Do they support universal health care, or are they more in favor of a private health insurance system.  Perhaps the growing number of people in medical debt (and the growing medical debt issue overall) is yet another symptom of how private health insurance might be a failing proposition for many American families.

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My questions are:

1) Is it safe and healthy?
• 2) Is this the best solution they’ve come up with?

The FDA answers question #1 with a definitive YES, and the Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer rights group, answers #2 with an unfortunate YES. The group has expressed its disbelief that the FDA has turned to radiation rather than working to help prevent contamination of the lettuce and spinach from the get-go. You can read more at the sources listed below.

What are you thoughts on this? I, myself, will try harder to get to the farmer’s markets to pick up my lettuce and spinach.

Sources:
“F.D.A. Allows Irradiation of Some Produce” - The New York Times, August 21, 2008
“FDA to permit irradiation of spinach, lettuce” - San Francisco Chronicle, SF Gate online, August 22, 2008

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Both 23andMe and Navigenics made news on Wednesday when a California court judged that they may continue to offer their services in that state. Prior to the ruling, the California Department of Public Health had issued “cease and desist” letters to thirteen companies offering similar services, but none as prominent as 23andMe or Navigenics, which have benefited from buzz and PR in recent months both within and outside of the health care industry and health care information worlds. The letters asserted that the companies were not authorized to operate as laboratories and that genetic testing required a physician’s order. However, both companies have now satisfied California’s requirements — for example, a physician at Navigenics routinely reviews customer orders, and the companies send samples out to laboratories that are licensed for the actual testing. The companies act as coordinators for the service and ensure customer privacy, among other things.

So, how much does it cost to get the complete picture of your genome? 23andMe will send you a kit for $999 — you send it back after taking a saliva swab.

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What are your thoughts on HPV vaccines? On the one hand, we want to protect our girls and women and right now these are the vaccines that we have available. This is the opinion that I generally hold, though I do teeter back and froth. On the other hand, as the NEJM points out, we don’t have the evidence to show that our girls and women are actually receiving the protection claimed by the vaccines.

I’m interested in a variety of opinions, discuss!

Sources:
“Health and Economic Implications of HPV Vaccination in the United States” - New England Journal of Medicine, August 21, 2008
“Human Papillomavirus Vaccination — Reasons for Caution” - New England Journal of Medicine, August 21, 2008
“Researchers Question Wide Use of HPV Vaccines” - The New York Times, August 20, 2008

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The article states that:

 Growing numbers of women are opting for double mastectomies, even when they have cancer only in one — even when they lack the risk factors of women like Applegate. Among women with cancer in one breast, the risk of developing a tumor in the other breast is less than 1% a year, says Isabelle Bedrosian of Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

If you were in the same situation, what would be the reasons for or against having a double mastectomy? What about women who have not yet developed breast cancer but are at high risk due to genetic or other risk factors? Considering that for many patients, survival rates are the same whether the patient has a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, are physicians doing a disservice to patients who opt for the more drastic procedure?

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Benitez says, “Anyone could be the next target if doctors are allowed to pick and choose their patients based on religious views about other groups of people.” One of her lawyers, Jennifer Pizer, says, “Discrimination has no place in the doctor’s office.” What are your thoughts?

Sources:
“California Victory for Health Care Equality” - Lambda Legal
“State court says medical decisions, religion shouldn’t mix” - signonsandiego.com, August 18, 2008

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The exercise classes are supported by many leading cancer centers in their localities, such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. For example, in Philadelphia, Fox Chase is working with the gym Curves to see if breast cancer patients can stick to an exercise routine during treatment.

While people undergoing treatment for cancer often have to be careful about exercising too vigorously or jumping into a routine especially if they have not been active for a while, the programs are not only a means of exercise, but could be a valuable source of social support from people who may not want to participate in a support group. Of course, anyone undergoing treatment or with a chronic condition should speak to their doctor before starting an exercise program. But with millions of cancer survivors in the United States, gyms are smart to try to capture this growing and unique audience.

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These results aren’t that surprising, but what concerns me the most is the cost-saving potential of getting the correct test ordered, completed, and reported to both physician and patient in a short period of time. We waste a huge amount of money in our health system because test results are often not available or are vague (for example, the physician sends the patient a note with the words “positive” or “negative,” or otherwise lacking clarity, such as “within normal limits.”) If that patient must go to another provider or if the patient lands in the emergency department, that facility must redo the test, even if the patient can say “hey, they told me that my count for [insert test here] was a little bit high.”

Part of this problem is the lack of electronic medical record (EMR) implementation across the board.  If the only copy of your lab results is sitting in a manilla folder at your primary care physician’s office, the ER doctor will never know that your cholesterol is dangerously high. Part of the problem is also patients. The idea of a Personal Health Record, or PHR, that would contain this information is still a bit pie-in-the-sky… although companies such as Microsoft, with HealthVault, and Google Health are promising an EMR/PHR revolution through their products.

Regardless of the technology barriers, the physician ordering a test should have the responsibility for getting the result back and contacting the patient as soon as possible, whether by telephone or mail (or another secure avenue). Not only is it poor customer service to leave patients hanging (or to not ever tell them their results, letting many assume they are fine when there might be a problem), it’s poor business practice, and it can lead to overspending and overtesting.

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